Activists Say Blacks Shortchanged By Project

November 20, 1989|By KATHLEEN KERNICKY, Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Accusing City Hall of breaking its promises, community activists vowed on Sunday to see that more blacks are part of a redevelopment project that will build new housing and businesses in northwest Fort Lauderdale.

``The price for apartments and businesses will be so high, the average black won`t be able to afford to live or open a business there,`` said the Rev. Johnny Chestnut, spokesman for Justice for All in Broward, an organization of black church leaders and activists.

``We`re being priced out.``

The redevelopment project, which demolished 603 households and 76 storefronts to make way for 130 townhouses and 408 rental apartments, was the No. 1 concern at the group`s fourth annual convention at Mt. Hermon AME Church, 401 NW Seventh Terrace.

Seventy new townhouses called City View, aimed at attracting downtown workers and low- to moderate-income families, opened in 1985. Sixty more are planned, along with a 408-unit apartment complex called Regency Plaza. Financing problems have stalled both projects.

Justice members are angry that only a handful of black families have purchased the townhouses, priced at about $50,000, while some 1,700 blacks were displaced to make way for the redevelopment project.

In addition, rent at the planned $31.4 million Regency Plaza will range from about $400 to $600 per month, excluding many black families, Chestnut said.

``There were promises that these would be low-income and that the displaced black families would have the first chance to come back,`` Chestnut said.

Intended as the cornerstone of the redevelopment effort, the rental complex calls for lush landscaping, tennis and basketball courts, swimming pools, security and a guarantee that at least half of the apartments will be rented to low-income people.

In a skit performed to an audience of about 450 people, Justice members wearing white cardboard masks played City Hall leaders who turn away black tenants while welcoming whites with cash.

``We`ve heard many promises about that area,`` said Justice member Robert Smith. ``Seven years ago it was homes and apartments. Now it`s clear. The bulldozers have been through. And who`s living at City View? Whites. Something is wrong.``

City Commissioner Jim Naugle, who attended the convention, said some of the complaints aired on Sunday are valid. But he said many black families who could afford to buy at City View chose to live elsewhere.

``Instead of urban renewal, there has been black removal,`` Naugle said. But the city cannot discriminate against white buyers who qualify, he said.

Naugle said that apartments such as those planned for Regency Plaza cannot be built to rent for less than $400 or $500 a month. Some families could pay less, however, because a number of units will likely be set aside for those eligible to receive rent subsidies.